1. The downtown urban center and skyline is based on downtown Dallas, minus the distinctive Reunion Tower/giant disco ball.
2. The rainbow district of Oakwood is based on Dallas's gay neighborhood Oak Lawn (where I lived, worked, and partied during my late adolescence/early adulthood). However, its streets named after trees are ganked from the Woodland West neighborhood in the DFW suburb of Arlington.
3. The bohemian-chic Soho-esque district of Jericho Pass is based on Dallas's boho district Deep Ellum. The interior of Derek's swank apartment building is based on a combination of the Santa Fe Terminal (former train terminal turned lofts) and the Adam Hats building (former Model T factory turned hat factory turned lofts). The exterior, on the other hand, is newer and taller, and based on a photo of a Tokyo high-rise.
4. The underpass graffiti mural Derek drives by in the first book upon entering Jericho Pass? That's based on the former Good Latimer tunnel that doubled as gateway to Deep Ellum. Both the tunnel and mural were demolished a while back for the new commuter rail. (I preserved the tunnel in my books; a photographer preserved it on film here. There are some broken image links but keep scrolling. Some of it is typical graffiti but again, keep scrolling.)
5. Jodi and Dusty's apartments are based on some crappy ones I really lived in on the Arlington/Grand Prairie line. Dusty's fire is based on three different fires that occurred in three different complexes in that same apartment cluster within a 6-month period. One of those fires directly affected me; another came close. Yes, I eventually got the hint and moved elsewhere.
6. The upper middle class neighborhood Blue grew up in and where his parents still live is Arlington's Interlochen neighborhood. But...the farm-dotted backroad Blue takes to get there is based on the Hurst/Euless/Bedford backroads (although encroaching development is rendering them less and less backroads.) And...the dangerous S-curve with the white cross is behind the previously referenced Woodland West area in Arlington. (Yes, there really is a white cross there. Yes, I always took that curve carefully.)
So there you have it. Blue Ruin is basically set in Dallas/Ft. Worth but it's not in Texas -- it's in my brain. Which explains why Blue doesn't have a Texas accent, while readers are seeing the Metroplex as I knew it rather than the stereotypical "JR Ewing/cowboy" image often associated with the area. Any questions, y'all?
5 comments:
Interesting to see how you worked that amalgam!
I think it's not only acceptable but wise (from a thematic standpoint) to set a futuristic urban fantasy or even a steampunk novel in a place that's more representative than actual. I've done it, because it just makes sense.
KZ ~ This is is the world that exists in my head -- a warped acid trip of reality. :D
I think anon metro areas are fine in contempo so long as they aren't *too* anonymous, bland, or generic. (Although I suppose that might be a statement in itself regarding modern urban sprawl...) I may have invented my own anonymous modern city in Blue Ruin, but have tried to infuse it with some color and flavor!
Well I guess we could of almost been neighbors at one time. :D I was born and raised in the same area. In fact, I recognize all the places you mentioned. I used to drive my son and his friends to a club called The Door in Deep Ellum. That's where all kinds of cool bands would perform. I would drop them off and then go hang out at Northpark Mall until they were ready to go home. I was such a cool mom...lol. ;)
Too bad I never could run into Blue or Derek while I was there. :D
Lisa ~
I knew I liked you for some reason. ;)
I remember The Door. I never went there as I was mostly out of the club and concert scene at that point, other than the occasional Thursday or Sunday night at The Church. (Or retro 80s night at Blue Planet, which was across 75 from Northpark Mall!)
Everywhere I go, I bump into people who've lived in DFW, often from the same suburb and even *neighborhood*. (Of course, people who aren't from there don't understand why that's a big deal -- it's because DFW is huuuge!)
If Derek and Blue were running around the Metroplex, maybe I'd still be there too. :D
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